Publication

Publication

Recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), encoding the measles
virus (MV) fusion (F) and hemagglutinin (H) (MVA-FH) glycoproteins, was
evaluated in an MV vaccination-challenge model with macaques. Animals were
vaccinated twice in the absence or presence of passively transferred
MV-neutralizing macaque antibodies and challenged 1 year later
intratracheally with wild-type MV. After the second vaccination with
MVA-FH, all the animals developed MV-neutralizing antibodies and
MV-specific T-cell responses. Although MVA-FH was slightly less effective
in inducing MV-neutralizing antibodies in the absence of passively
transferred antibodies than the currently used live attenuated vaccine, it
proved to be more effective in the presence of such antibodies. All
vaccinated animals were effectively protected from the challenge
infection. These data suggest that MVA-FH should be further tested as an
alternative to the current vaccine for infants with maternally acquired
MV-neutralizing antibodies and for adults with waning vaccine-induced
immunity.